Yikes! That's unfortunate! i do advise feeding in separate enclosure and fresh kill if you can. I used a pair of tongs to do a short "puppet show", and mine struck inside of 5 to 30 seconds. They are now used to warmed up frozen and they both strike very fast. Ignore the haters. I do run into a few people who disagree. I do not ever feed live because my snake could get hurt.